


Safe Space

by LouTheStarSpeaker



Category: Motorcity (Cartoon)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Epic Friendship, Gen, Panic Attacks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:28:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25717294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LouTheStarSpeaker/pseuds/LouTheStarSpeaker
Summary: Comfort doesn't come easy when you live with your enemy, even if that enemy is your own father
Relationships: Julie Kane & Mike Chilton
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	Safe Space

**Author's Note:**

> So this was written in two sporadic bursts between the hours of twelve and three in the morning (apparently those are the only times productivity was available), and then spruced it up and edited when I was awake enough to actually know what I was doing. Either way, I hope you guys enjoy.  
> ~Lou xx
> 
> IMPORTANT: Trigger warning for panic attacks. If you think this might upset you, please, please read with discretion, or skip this fic entirely.

Sometimes, when Julie’s father came home, he’d tell her that he loved her. Those were horrible days.

Horrible because he meant it. He did love her.

And horrible because he only ever said it when he’d almost killed her friends. When metal twisted and cars went skidding across a battlefield. The days when she came back bruised. 

Julie would hide her wince as he hugged too tight, swallow her fear, and say “I love you, too”, and wonder if the words were a truth or a lie. She’d pretend she felt safe in those arms. 

She didn’t. 

They were the same arms that had bruised her.

Those were the horrible days that turned into even more terrible nights. The nights when she woke in bed, sobbing without a sound, choking on her own breath. Nightmares that seemed to come to life as she opened her eyes, when she realized her reality tilted on the edge of her greatest fear.

That her images would shatter. 

Intern. 

Burner.

Daughter.

Who  _ was _ she?

The weight of the question seemed to flatten her lungs out. 

Her father was in the next room. She used to run to him when she had a bad dream, now she just ran away.

Out the door. Down the road. To that forgotten side tunnel with her invisible safe haven. And then she was gone from the city, disappeared like the Chesire cat.

Julie drove with a reckless abandon that was usually saved for battle, the thrumming of her engine matching the wild beating of her heart. She needed somewhere  _ safe _ .

She wrestled enough sense out of her panic to have the mind to slow down before she reached the garage. It was the middle of the night, and as much as she wanted to see them right now, a good night’s sleep was a rare thing for the Burners.

Julie hit the breaks, some of the fear untangling in her chest at the sight of the others’ cars lined up next to hers. 

_ See? _ She told herself.  _ I’m safe. If the guys are here, I’m safe. _

But then she caught sight of Mutt’s mangled drivers’ side door, and the memory of Chuck’s scream filled her ears, her own present fear springing forth like an animal, roaring in her chest, in her mind, in her throat. Julie’s hands gripped her steering column, head on the dash and nails digging painfully into her own skin. 

_ Breathe, Julie.  _

Breathe like Jacob taught her. Like she’d seen Chuck do a million times. Like she’d done on her own, in the dark of her bedroom, when she was too exhausted to run but not enough not to panic.

And she did. She imagined the panic untangling from her ribs each time her lungs expanded. Imagined the fear being expelled with each breath, lesser and lesser until it was gone. 

It left her heaving and trembling, the way it always did, with tears on her cheeks she couldn’t remember crying, sweat on her brow she was just now feeling. But she’d made it through.  _ See that? I’m fine.  _ She was fine.

_ Tap, tap, tap _ .

Julie’s head snapped up, panic surging then retreating in a quick enough wave to leave her fatigued all over again. It was only Mike, tapping on her window. 

Scrambling slightly, Julie rubbed a hand across her face, scrubbing the tears away. She must look like a wreck, but maybe it was too dark for him to see her properly. Julie rolled down the window. 

“Mike,” Her voice shuddered. She pretended it didn’t, she was good at pretending. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you up.”

Mike waved away the apology. “Don’t worry about it, I’m a light sleeper.” He placed his forearms on her windowsill, leaning in slightly to try and see her better. 

“What’re you doing here, Jules?” The question was soft, concerned.

Julie gave a rueful smile and a shrug. “Just couldn’t sleep. Thought a drive might help, you know?”

Mike nodded, but Julie had a feeling she wasn’t fooling anybody. “Well, since you’re here, might as well stay, right?”

Julie almost gave a sigh of relief. “Sure, good idea.” 

Julie opened the car door, realizing with a flush of embarrassment how obvious it was she’d left the house in a panic. She was wearing her Kano Co issued pajamas, colors that could make her a target down here in Motorcity, and she hadn’t even remembered to put anything on her feet.

With sharp stones and broken glass and rusted metal, shoes were nonnegotiable down here. Even Mike, still in his own pajamas, had pulled his boots on for the quick trip down from the house to the parking lot.

Mike took note of her hesitation, his worried frown deepening as he noticed her bare feet, but he didn’t mention it. Instead, he turned his back to her, pointing a thumb over his shoulder. “Come on, I’ll carry you piggy-back.”

“What?” Julie shook her head. “Mike-”

He seemed to be anticipating her pushback, derailing her with a grin over his shoulder. “Your only option, Jules. Unless you wanna spend the night in your car?”

She’d done that before, several times, actually. There was a reason her drivers seat was a pile of pink fur, but that was hardly the answer Mike was looking for. 

Julie blew at her bangs, but she really wasn’t in the mood for an argument. “Don’t you dare drop me, cowboy.”

He grinned at her again, and she was glad he stopped looking at her with that worried frown. She hated to be the reason for it. 

Today really had been a horrible day.

Julie climbed onto Mike’s back, and, exhausted, dropped her head to his shoulder as he began to walk. Her eyes looked out at the garage, the restaurant above it, the building behind it where the guys slept. The place where they ate and laughed and argued. 

Julie liked it here, far better than her own home.

“See, this isn’t so bad, is it?” Mike’s voice still had that grin in it. It made her feel like crying again.

No. No, it wasn’t. Mike was safe. 

Entirely, incredibly, and undeniably  _ safe _ . 

In the way her own father no longer was, maybe never had been in the first place. If Dad, if  _ Kane _ had found Julie in that car tonight, tired and trembling, he’d force the truth from her and then crush her for it. 

Mike, well, he’d carry her on his back.

“Thanks, Mike.”

He tilted his head, tapping his temple against the back of her head. “Anytime, Jules.”


End file.
